Reading a poem…

… doesn’t need to be a penance, or a puzzle, or a solemn search for enlightenment. It can be any or all of those things, if you or the poet insist. But it can also be simply a way to share a moment.

Here’s what happened: this is what I saw, heard, smelt, experienced, and when it happened I … laughed? Frowned? Felt heartache? Felt something. Remembered the moment and the feeling, wrote it down as vividly as I could so that you could experience it too. When I describe the moment and you read about it, does the world change? Do we have Higher Thoughts, are we enlightened? Maybe. Or maybe we just, you know, pay attention to a moment. Which might make it easier to pay attention to more moments as they come along, to respect and relish the finite number of moments that each life contains.

On this Substack I publish a weekly post with one or two poems, along with a paragraph or two about how and why I wrote them and (if I remember) what that was like. Each post and each poem is written to be read and enjoyed, to celebrate moments and the ways they reward our attention. A few minutes of refreshment, delivered directly to your email inbox every Wednesday! And for free! Just tap that nice rectangular button in the next line.

Thank you! The poems and I are proud and grateful to have you as a reader.

- The 26th Avenue Poet